Conventional reclosable containers made of plastics, for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or other products are manufactured by blowing and/or molding in two parts: one of said parts is constituted by the body of the container, whilst the other part is constituted by closure means for keeping the container closed after its manufacture and to reclose it after use.
In these containers, the closure means remain inserted in the neck of the container or coupled thereto until it is opened for the first time for use. Accordingly, the part of the closure means which is in contact with the neck of the container is protected against external contaminants, which cannot deposit on it, and therefore the risk that said contaminants might be accidentally introduced in the container by said closure means when the container is reclosed after first use is minimized.
However, said containers are expensive to manufacture, since they require separate molds for the two parts of the container, which must furthermore be assembled after molding.
Conventional reclosable containers made of plastics, for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or other products are also produced by blowing and/or molding them monolithically; i.e., in these containers the body is formed monolithically with closure means which are adapted to keep the container closed after manufacture and/or to reclose it after use.
These containers are undoubtedly cheaper to manufacture than the previous ones, but they entail the drawback that the closure means must be formed on the outside of the container during molding; therefore, the part of said means that must be used to reclose the container after use remains exposed to external pollutants, which can thus easily enter the container when it is reclosed after first use, and this is particularly dangerous, for example in the case of pharmaceutical substances.
A container of this kind is the subject of Italian utility model patent no. 199776, which discloses a single- or multiple-dose container for pharmaceutical products which comprises a body provided with a lower opening, which can be sealed by thermal bonding, and with an upper neck, which is closed in an upward region by closure means in the form of a peduncle formed monolithically with said neck and with a stopper which is provided with plug means for reclosing the neck of the container after it has been opened by tearing the peduncle; the plug means are formed on the part of said stopper which is directed away from the neck of the container.
A molded container having already mounted the closure means, at the end of the molding operation, is known from the document GB-A-2 001 275.
This prior art is susceptible of considerable improvements as regards the possibility of eliminating the above drawbacks.
It is accordingly necessary to solve the problem of realizing a container which, after being opened, can be reclosed so as to minimize the risk of contaminating the substance contained therein and is as simple and cheap as possible to manufacture.
Another aspect of the problem is to realize a container which cannot be tampered with without leaving indications that tampering has occurred.